On June 9th, 2013 The West Anniston Foundation held its’ annual scholarship reception at the Anniston City Meeting to recognize our scholarship recipients. This year the foundation held our 1st Annual Scholarship Gala to raise funds for our scholarships awards. Thanks to our generous sponsors Anniston Water Works and Sewer, Solutia, Inc., Sunny King Automotive Group and Regional Medical Center and community support we were able to award eight additional scholarships with the ten scholarships we award on an annual basis. For more information about the West Anniston Foundation’s scholarship, please contact Kay Beard at 256.238.9900.

Below is a summary of each scholarship recipients profile:

1.Yahteiea Carter

School Attending: Southern Union State Community College

Major: Nursing

Vision: “I want to see the place come together as one, the way I remember it….I feel as if it we should try to bring more businesses in the Anniston instead of letting the businesses leave. I think if the city was able to bring more businesses, the economic and social impact would be self-perpetuating.”

2.Cadija Davis

High School: Anniston High School

Anticipated School Attending: Troy University

Major: Biology (Obstetrician)

Vision: “I would like to establish a facility where young mothers can have a place for their children to stay, while they are in school, in which they will be able to continue their education.”

3. Tyshada Clemons

High School: Anniston High School

Anticipated School Attending: Gadsden State Community College

Major: Medical Degree in Pediatrics

Vision: “When people think about Anniston, Alabama they think about what they see/hear in the media. They see/hear the unnecessary violence, lack of jobs and lower than average education, and people feeling like they will not make it in life. I on the other hand see different. I see people walking and riding around Anniston feeling safe. I see jobs on every corner. I see the minds of young children and young adults changing. I see them realizing their life is not based upon the current surroundings; but, with determination and desire and a desire to change, they can become whatever they long to be in life.”

4.Ja’Kelli Elston

High School: Anniston High School

Anticipated School Attending:

Major: Nursing

Vision: “My vision for the West Anniston community is for everyone to work together and support each other to improve the livelihood of all of its members. I would like to see the young people develop a vision and seek ways to improve housing and literacy in our community. I am of strong belief that if our living conditions are improved it would raise morale among the community and eventually it would perpetuate throughout the community so that we can once again begin to produce good stewards in West Anniston."

5.Aisha Gladden

High School: Alexandria High School

Anticipated School Attending: Troy University

Major: Accountant/Nurse

Vision: I would like to see Anniston open those businesses back up and not only that, but also bring in new businesses. I would like to see Anniston open those businesses back up and bring in new businesses. I would also like to see more youth participating in community service activities that will better Anniston. I would like to see Anniston grow and build malls, sports complexes, recreational centers, and with the new roads, I believe we would get more visitors that would bring in great business within our community."

6.Orpah Gray

High School: Anniston High School

Anticipated School Attending: Jacksonville State University

Major: Political Science/Pre-law

Vision: “My vision for the West Anniston Community is to uphold a standard in which we can be proud of. We must unite to provide a positive atmosphere for the children. My vision is to provide children with encouragement to receive an education.”

7.Shelomith Gray

High School: Anniston High School

Anticipated School Attending: Jacksonville State University

Major: Forensic Psychiatrist

Vision: “I envision a community of excellence and prosperity and this will be accomplished if I and other citizens afford the children of Calhoun County with the proper tools and funds to better themselves. Ultimately, my goals and vision for the West Anniston Foundation coincided to help fuel me."

8.Kenneth Griffin

College Attending: Alabama A&M University

Major: Electrical Engineering

Vision: “My vision of the West Anniston community is a community where drugs and violence is nonexistent. In the community I imagine a place where the children of Anniston can go to have fun and do homework. It will keep their heads in their books and away from the streets. My vision also includes a Wellness Center; this will be a place for teens and adults to work out and have fun.”

9.Jamia Haynes

High School: Anniston High School

College Attending: Toccoa Falls College

Major: Health Science

Vision: “I want to contribute back to the West Anniston community by providing free medical assistance to the low socioeconomic senior citizens, and to the students of the Anniston City Schools System. Also, I plan to generously support the West Anniston community by making charitable contributions."

10.Demetrius Maxwell

High School: Oxford High School

Anticipated School Attending: Southern Union

Major: Education

Vision: “I see myself being a history teacher at a local school in the community and/coaching basketball…. I will use this scholarship to help me develop and be able to give back to the community, West Anniston and Hobson City.”

11.Tysonn McKinnon

College Attending: Auburn University

Major: Public Relations/ Marketing Minor

Vision: “I know firsthand the challenges and struggles that face adolescents in the Model City, from gripping poverty to issues of acceptance and identity to negative perceptions of themselves everywhere they look. I know the conditions of the Anniston City Schools’ facilities and the problems they face. I know what it is like to be a teenager with nothing to do on a Friday night but get into trouble. It is my hopes to one day have a positive impact on all these aspects and to make Anniston a friendlier place to be a kid."

12.Harold Morris

College Attending: Gadsden State Community College

Major: English/Psychology

Vision: “My vision for the West Anniston Community is to promote more educational awareness, and to see more school aged children getting on the bus rather than on the streets.”

13.Candace Robinson

College Attending: Tuskegee University

Major: Nursing

Vision: “My vision for the Anniston community is a community that is mended together. There should be places where everyone can come together, the old and the young…a place where the young could learn from their elders and vice versa. A good mentoring program would help the youth of the community and guild them on the right tract. This program could help students with their journey to college and throughout the school system, by giving them well needed advice. There should also be places with available jobs, which will attract more residents. The Anniston community needs more grocery stores within walking distance and a stable public transportation system."

14.Alexandria Rogers

College Attending: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Major: Healthcare Management

Vision: “The vision that I have to make West Anniston community more viable would include bringing businesses to the area by helping to empower the people in the community to share a vision of positive change. This change should start from the youth within the area to encourage the importance of education beyond high school. This can occur by sponsoring workshops that offer ACT and S AT prep, providing counseling for different career fields, and a open forum discussion on ways to give back to your community to help ensure this viability for the next generation. Another vision for the viability for the West Anniston community is to create a foundation of mentors that consist of a wide variety of professions. The purpose of the foundation is to expose young adults to different career paths that they may not have ever dreamed."

15.Jasmine Smith

High School: Alexandria High School

College Attending: Gadsden State College

Major: Fashion Merchandising

Vision: “The vision that I have for the West Anniston community is a community that has citizens that remain or return to back to ensure it has vital growth. I vision opportunities for young people to continue to grow educationally, financially and spiritually through the help and leadership examples shown by the adults of the community. I vision the West Anniston community as a community that will continue to be rich in growth, as well as rich in history. I see the West Anniston community as the spark of the City of Anniston."

16.Ariel Tolson

College Attending: Jacksonville State University

Major: Exercise Science and Wellness/ Minor: Business

Vision: “I chose to go in the path of physical therapy because I felt as if I could give back to West Anniston community and apply my hard work and dedication in the work place….the West Anniston has given me so much; therefore, I want to give back to my community through my career goals.”

17.Iman Walker

College Attending: Alabama A&M University

Major: Computer Engineering

Vision: “My vision for the area includes a complete eradication of the damage to the water sources and soils that have been contaminated by PCBs. I will work to establish a local group that will continue to push the EPA agency to clean our waterways and soil of this toxin.”

18.Joshua Wilson

High School: Anniston High School

College Attending: Auburn University

Major: Architecture and Music

Vision: “I have a new vision for the West Anniston community. This vision starts with our parents. We need to encourage our parents to stay involved in their children’s personal lives by teaching them parental guidance and providing them exposure to various experiences that will make them successful. My personal goal for the West Anniston community is to use my abilities, as an architect to renovate and redesign the physical appearance of the West Anniston community, in my hopes that Annistonians will take more pride in the community from which they hail.”